I own an Umax Astra 3400. It was scanning well before. Suddenly, the scanner has consistently produced scans that are dark, murky, and less detailed then before. The colors also seem off. I have tried adjusting it with the software, but brightening it, adjusting the colors, adjusting the DPI, etc. all have resulted in the fact that the initial scans are all as described above. We're fairly experienced with scanners here, as we use them all the time, but this one, we cannot figure out.

What are the possible solutions to dark, murky, less detailed scans? And by the way, yes, we have carefully cleaned the glass.

Thank you very much for your time, effort, and detailed and thoughtful response.

-Ken Lee
elevenshadows@yahoo.com

I forgot to mention that I am running Mac OS 9.1 on a G4, in case that matters.

As mentioned previously, the scans had looked really good, then suddenly and obviously became dark, murky, and less detailed, especially in the darker areas of color photographs. Adjusting the contrast does nothing - they're flawed with the initial scan, and adjusting the software does nothing to make the scans look much better. Different, yes, but not better!

Thanks for any replies.